not too much to ask
by rachelthebooklover
Summary: james/lilly one shot, written for xXblackheartzXx happiness challenge.


Entry for xXblackheartzXx's happiness challenge…

DISCLAIMER: clearly I do not own Harry potter, or any other characters thereof.

Honestly she knew exactly when it happened. The moment when it turned into something intentional, instead of just something she did because he genuinely drove her mad. Of course, he still drove her mad, that would probably never change, but in that moment it had changed from a reflex reaction into something she had to think about for a second, because it _meant_ something all of a sudden.

The moment is still perfectly clear in her mind. The dust swirling in the air of the deserted common room, the complex dance suddenly visible in the clear shafts of warm winter sun the streamed in through the windows. The way the fire crackled, the soft, all encompassing warmth of the couch she was snuggled into.

"For gods sake James, give it up already. It's never going to happen. Might as well get yourself a date who'll at least agree to actually go out with you!"

"No. Shove of you furry bastard."

"Look mate, all I want is for you to be happy. Is that too much to ask?"

The exact tone of his voice is still evident to her, even now. The words were muffled by the turns in the staircase to the boy's dormitories, but due to the utter silence of the room she could clearly hear every shouted syllable. He was clearly joking around with his best mate, but something about the way he said no showed exactly how committed he was. He was never going to give up. This was something genuine, not just some utter toe rag trying to shag her. He actually felt something that was strong enough to drive him to ask her out all these times. Good lord, there must have been thousands of times by now, and with each came a tiny grain of heartfelt emotion, which as she did a quick mental tally had to add up to something quite considerable by now. All those little grains made quite a pile when she swept them together into a heap in the back of her head.

The question was, did it make up for all the bad grains that were stored away in the opposite side of her mind? All the torture, the needless pranks, the offhand remarks designed to torment, and the few acts of genuine cruelty which, until now, had been the driving force behind her actions. Black walked out from behind the last bend in the stairs and sauntered quickly across the room, acknowledging her with a tightlipped smile and a brief nod before he was out the portrait hole, and out of sight.

And suddenly she knew. She didn't need to overlook the bad, ignore it, act as though it didn't exist, to be able to say yes. Sirius made a fair point. Was it really too much to ask? In order to truly care for a person you had to take the good with the bad. God knew he did, every time he asked her. Would it really be impossible for her to do the same? Honestly, she didn't think it would. In fact she was fairly sure that it would be quite easy at this point.

The sound of the footsteps was almost completely lost to her, and she only noticed when he spoke.

"Hey Evens. I already know what you're going to say but it wouldn't be a Wednesday without the sting of cold hard rejection. So. Would you care to accompany me to Hogsmeade this coming weekend?"

"Yes." The word felt funny in her mouth. It seemed to taste of newness, of promises that would be kept, the inevitable few that would be broken, and naturally, of that strange, delicious excitement that seems to bubble up whenever something new and much anticipated happens.

In all honesty, no matter how she tried to hide it at the time, she really cared about that moment. Because despite the loveliness of the moments that preceded it, with their twirling dust motes, and crackling fires, the next one was unequivocally perfect.

"Really?" His shock was priceless. He was clearly flabbergasted. And, in hindsight, he had reason to be, considering that until that moment she would rather have gone out with the giant squid than with him, and had in fact told him this on several occasions. In front of all of his mates. In front of the whole school actually. Very very loudly.

"Yes you wanker, and you had better be taking me somewhere nice, I had other plans this weekend, and now you're making me reschedule." She looked up and grinned but he never saw. He had already turned tail and run yelling "don't worry evens, I won't let you down!! I just want you to be happy!"

A/N: been a while since I actually wrote anything, but I do love a challenge. This started out as a r/h drabble, and quickly got wildly out of hand, and even changed ships on me! Reviewers get a devoted James potter, and a moment of epiphany all their own.


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